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Dear Friend,
The Trevor Project is hearing directly from LGBTQ youth across the country about how the recent senseless acts of violence against Black Americans are affecting their mental health and sense of safety. For the Black LGBTQ young people we serve every day, continued exposure to unjust killings and violence in their community can have a detrimental impact on their mental health.
The violence that Black LGBTQ youth are seeing on their screens, and the resulting feelings of hopelessness, grief, anger, and anxiety, are unfortunately not new. Violence has been an all-too-common part of history for Black LGBTQ communities. The LGBTQ community has mourned the deaths of its Black members for years, even before Black LGBTQ icons like Stormé DeLarverie and Marsha P. Johnson participated in what would become known as the Stonewall Riots. Just last year, more than 20 Black transgender people were killed in the U.S. — and due to flawed and insufficient mortality data, those are only the ones we know of. And just last week, a Black trans man named Tony McDade was shot and killed by police in Florida.
We recognize this is a time of heightened anxiety and stress, and that our community is struggling to cope and manage their mental health. The Trevor Project’s research shows that despite Black LGBTQ youth having similar rates of mental health disparities to all LGBTQ youth, they are significantly less likely to receive mental health care.
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